Chris_in_NH

;) Peer, i just read in the Bentley Boxster repair manual that the Boxster 'diffusers' are to help in cooling the muffler, as the newer (bigger, more powerful) engines produce more heat than the previous engines. makes sense! hope that answers your question! i am also glad to hear that these 'diffusers' are NOT JUST FOR LOOKS and actually have a purpose other than styling!! sometimes it's good to find that you were wrong! ;)

using the plastic window when the temp is below 50 degrees F is a recipe for failure. it's bulls**t, but that's the way it is... the window is not flexible enough at colder temps to be safely used, especially an older window which has lost much of its flexibility to sun damage, wear, etc. i am guessing that this is the reason that it is not folding correctly. now, if you drove your car top up with the heat on for an hour, the window may absorb enough heat to be pliable. but unless you want to replace that plastic window sooner than later, i'd leave the top up until the weather is warmer. just my $.02. does the top fold correctly when the temp is warmer? is this a 'plastic window' issue or a 'fabric' issue? where exactly is the groove that you mention? do you have a pic?

ahhh, i see. ;) i think Peer's question was sincere, not a dig on anyone, for what it's worth.

hi Russ, looks like this post is directed at me. i have no idea what you're talking about. i didn't think i 'slated' anyone. ;) i pointed out to Peer that i said the Porsche diffusers weren't really diffusers, that you pointed out why real diffusers work, and that Loren linked to a racing application for diffusers. ??? Happy New Year!! :)

hi Peer. this is not a joke. i was saying that the Porsche 'diffusers' are not *really* diffusers and i posted a picture of what *actual* diffusers look like. RascalRuss pointed out the technical reasons why diffusers work and Loren linked to why they are beneficial to race cars. in other words, the Boxster diffusers are not going to win you any races! ;) they are for looks only. hope that helps!

get yourself some of this... http://www.rcplanet.com/1_oz_z7_debonder_95621_prd1.htm

nothing. they're not even real diffusers. ;) here's a real diffuser... The purpose of the diffuser is to allow the air that has been accelerated (so that its higher speed can produce a lower pressure) under the car to decelerate back to close to the same speed and pressure it was before the car ran into it. The better the diffuser works, the less drag the underwing produces.

GOD, that is ridiculous! i'm not sure why you needed new door actuators, but this just seems like robbery! diagnosis should have cost nothing - if the alarm/locking didn't work they should know to just replace the frikkin alarm/locking computer. plus all this stuff with YOU having to check the drains, why the heck wouldn't they just blow them out with compressed air? jeez! as far as your CEL, did they give you any fault codes? sure it could be the MAF or a hundred other things. if you disconnect the negative battery terminal for a few seconds, it will clear the Check Engine Light (make sure you have your radio code). if the fault is still present, the CEL will light again. make sure you get the codes!! (an AutoZone will do this for free.) ;) i would unscrew that locking computer and put a thick plastic freezer bag around it and zip it shut, just in case.

which Nak deck did you get? CD-400/500/700-II? i picked up a CD-500 about a month ago and it crapped out on me. i kept getting disc errors with any disc that i played (brand new discs, burned CDs, etc.) it's sitting here in a box ready to be shipped back for replacement. i did a lot of research on the Nak decks before i bought one and read that while the sound quality is top-notch, the build quality is less-than-stellar. something to do with them being built in Malaysia now, as opposed to Japan. the only Nak deck that i personally wouldn't buy is the CD-300 which has a 1-bit Digital/Analog Converter (IIRC), compared to the 24-bit DAC in the CD-400/500/700-IIs.

i read thru the manual for the CDA-9857, and as you mentioned, the 9856 is the same but without the remote (i could never understand the *need* for a remote in a car... just another piece to lose or break. maybe it's for people with extremely short arms?) :lol: it looks like there is only one set of speaker outputs, and that you can toggle the internal amp on and off. so if you don't use an external amp, you leave the internal amp on and wire the speakers directly to the H/U. if you DO use an external amp, you turn off the internal amp and connect the speaker outs to the amp inputs, then connect the speakers to the amp outs. make sense? the MBQ dash speakers you've selected are adequate, and they are what i've used. you might want to think about getting the next model up the line. don't get me wrong, the speakers are fine, but if you spent twice as much (around $80) i think you would be happier. i haven't tried the door speakers you mentioned, but they look fine. keep in mind that if you get an amp with crossovers built-in, you won't *need* to use component speakers. in my doors i used 6.5" MBQ DKE-116s (coax speakers). there are many amps to choose from. the standard Boxster amps are 40w per channel, and the sound is decent and semi-loud, but i think that you'd want t a little more than the 40w per channel. i'd look for a 6 channel amp with 50 to 100w per channel. you may be able to get away with a 4 channel amp and connect the dash and rear speakers to the same amp outputs (2 channels) and the door speakers to the other 2 channels. check out www.woofersetc.com and look under amplifiers. there are MANY to choose from. i would also call a stereo installer, tell them what you want to do, and let them recommend an amp and how they would connect everything (4 channel vs 6 channel, etc., wiring speakers in parallel, etc.). then go buy the amp and do it yourself. ;) don't worry, they'll make money off some kid who doesn't know how to do it for himself. on the other hand, it might be worth it to you to pay the $100-$200 (or more) to have them do it. it really depends on how comfortable you are with DIY. of course, you could always try it yourself and if you screw it up bad enough, bring it to them. that's my motto. :lol: when installing the amp, you'll need to find a suitable location for it. the Boxster amps are mounted against the trunk firewall in the front trunk. depending on the size of your amp, you could do that, or mount it on the floor of the front trunk, against the front wall of the trunk, or wherever it will fit. you'll want to hook it up to switched power so that the amp is only on when the stereo is on. all this wiring stuff is complicated and very long to type, so when you get all your stuff ready to go, post here or PM me and i will give you a hand. ;) i have heard that the PNP speaker kits from Harvey on eBay are very good, but they are too expensive for me. so i made my own, but my car is a '97. what does your rear storage shelf look like in an '04 (the one behind the seats). is it the hard plastic shelf? i'll try to find a picture to get a better idea. the basic idea to make your own is to buy some speakers that you like (i bought Pioneer TSA878 3.5" speakers http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseac...Product_ID=1014 and cut a piece of wood to mount the speakers and then just wired them up. they sound GREAT!! so ~$50 DIY vs $250 for a kit... hmmm. ;)

2002 glass window? :rolleyes: ;)

my 1997 986 has been the most reliable car i have ever owned. i have had a few things break, common to most Boxsters - the Air/Oil Separator, power window regulator, and a few other things here and there. the car is almost 10 years old and has 106K miles. of course, there are horror stories out there - failed engines being the worst if your warranty has expired. but for the most part, i would say they are very reliable cars. keep in mind i do my own maintenance and repairs, and that has kept the cost of owning the car down, but there weren't too many part failures that i had to fix to begin with. with snow tires, the Boxster is a very capable winter car. djomlas mentioned getting an extra set of 17" wheels for winter. this is good advice, but depending on which Boxster you get will determine which size wheels are best for winter. the non-S model Boxsters will have better snow traction with 16" wheels. for Boxster S's, 16" wheels will not clear the brake calipers, so you'd need to use 17" wheels. the glass window started in 2003 and it has the defroster strips. there are also a few aftermarket companies that offer a complete soft top with a glass windows for pre-2003 Boxsters. these tops also have defroster strips, and the tops run about $1K, with professional installation being another $500 or so. GAHH is one of the companies that makes such a top. but even if you got a pre-2003 Boxster with a plastic window, i have found that the interior of the car heats up quickly and will melt the snow/ice on the plastic window. you asked about 986s (1997-2004) but not 987s (2005-on). are you only interested in 986s (for price purposes)? one of the members here, Mike Focke, has a great write-up on what to look for in a used Boxster. here's the link. hope this helps... http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mikespor...boxsterwebpages but remember, these cars are FINICKY! i got lucky with mine. the rule of thumb is to buy the newest one that is in your price range to take advantage of progress made to the model line. good luck!

sounds like you want to add iPod capability to your car. since you don't have an amp, i am guessing that there is no MOST fiber-optic bus/cable to deal with. you'll need a set of stereo removal keys from www.beckerautosound.com your new Alpine stereo will be a standard 1-DIN size, and will pop right into your dash to replace your old stereo. you may be able to pick up a Porsche-to-Alpine adapter from Scosche or another company that does wiring harnesses. you won't have to cut any wires and this will take care of powering the stereo. as far as wiring up the speakers, this will depend on if you use an amp or not. i recommend using an amp for what you're looking to do. on the back of your Alpine, there will probably be two sets of speaker outputs: speaker level (for if you didn't use an amp) and pre-amp outs (low level signals sent to the amp to be 'amplified'.) so if you want door speakers (and better sound in general), you'll need an amp. and if you want rear speakers, you'll need an amp with 6 channels. you could get a factory amp from a car that had the 6 channel amp (usually 996s), but i would get an aftermarket amp that will perform better than the stock amps. so, your amp channels will be L+R dash/L+R doors/L+R rear, and you'll need another channel for a subwoofer if you want to add it later. the door speakers in the boxster are mid-subs (only low frequencies get thru the crossover built into the factory amp), so if you don't use a factory amp, all frequencies will go to the door speakers (which might not be bad). depending on which MB Quart speakers you get (coaxial speakers or component speakers) and which amp, this is 'tweakable' (you could get just the highs to come out of the dash, and just the lows to come out of the doors.) component speakers are more expensive than coaxial speakers, so maybe look for an amp that has built-in crossovers per channel. or if you want the best sound possible, go with component speakers. lots to think about... there is a good write up here, written by Andy M on how to add door speakers. use the search function and you shall find! ;) there are a few rear speaker kits available on eBay for $200-250. you would have to cut the Porsche radio connector off the end of the rear speaker kit wires, and match those wires up to your amp. shouldn't be too hard at all. so to recap: - radio removal tools from Becker site - Porsche to Alpine wiring harness - amp (look for built-in crossovers) - component or coax speakers if you've installed stereos before, it shouldn't be too hard. swapping the head unit is probably the easiest part of all of this. that's a start. hope this helps. if you post back with specifics (speaker models, amp, etc.) i can help more. ;)

is your amp a factory amp? which one is it, the 4-channel or 6-channel? what stereo option do you have, M490 or M680? that wire that you mentioned in the yellow plug (C1 plug i think) is probably the remote amp turn on wire. when you turn on the stereo, it sends a signal to the amp to turn on. maybe the previous owner's Sony system didn't have a remote amp turn-on feature, so the amp is on all the time. he of course would have the same battery drain you're experiencing. just thinking out loud here... is there any way to get in touch with the previous owner? the Traffic Pro manual will have a diagram that shows the pinouts of the connectors. it may not tell the colors of the wires, but it will tell you which wire is in which connector/pin number. the C1 plug (if it's at all like the CDR-220's wiring) is where all the pre-amp speaker wires, the SHARED ground wire for the speakers, and the remote amp turn on wire are. as far as i know, you should not need to splice any wire into another wire. it could be the shared ground wire, which would explain why you have no sound when it's not connected, or it could be the remote amp turn-on wire, which would also give you no sound.

you have 3" fingernails?!! time to get yourself a pair of clippers, my friend! :lol:

LOL! and i thought *i* was impatient! :clapping: to begin with, let's use common terms. driver's side and passenger's side. left and right depends on your vantage point. you also haven't mentioned if these lights are Litronics (Xenon) or standard halogens. i'll assume halogens. do all the other lights in the driver's side headlight assembly work? are they as bright as the passenger side lights? have you tried swapping the new bulb to the passenger's side to see if it is a bad bulb? it happens... have you tried re-seating the driver's side headlight? sometimes when putting it back in, the pins don't connect exactly right, as Loren suggested. what brand bulb did you use? is it a 55w H7 bulb? if you use a bulb of higher wattage, it can melt the headlight lens, and they are not cheap. if you used the wrong size bulb, then it could work the way you describe or not at all. details!

at $150 for the set, that's not bad at all.

very nice! sounds like you did it yourself. what would the approximate cost be to have someone powder-coat them? i would buy the powder-coating equipment, but my oven still won't fit a 17" wheel. :lol:

standard OEM wheels ARE painted. as you mentioned, they would need to be sanded/blasted to remove the old paint. but of course paint will stick to them. i don't have any experience with powder-coated anything, but i would think that the cost would be much more than just 'painting' the wheels. for Panameras, to each his own, but i've seen black wheels with a silver lip on blue Boxsters and personally, i'm not a fan. i think it looks much better on black cars. blue might be a better alternative for a blue car, but ultimately i like silver the best - gives a nice contrast between the body color/wheels and wheels/black tires.

question - were you cycling the top and while the top was moving it just stopped? you mention the top indicator light on the dash was not on. was it on while you were cycling the top, and when the top stopped moving, the light went out? was the parking brake dash light ON when you were doing this? depending on when and how this happened, it could be a few different things. situation 1: you were cycling the top and it stopped in mid-cycle. situation 2: you went to cycle the top and it just wouldn't move. if it's #1, i would concur with ToolPants, check the relay. if it's #2, check that the dash parking brake light is on, and that when you unlatch the top, the windows drop a few inches from their full-up position. this will rule out the handbrake microswitch and the top latch microswitch. if both microswitches are OK (you have a parking brake dash light when setting the parking brake, and your windows drop when unlatching the top) then check the relay. as ToolPants noted, there is only one 'motor', but people confuse the terms 'motor' and 'transmission'. so technically he is right, there is only one 'motor' (located by the 3rd brake light) connected via cables to 2 transmissions (one on each side of car).

ohhhhhhhh! ;) because of the different-colored connectors, i thought you had a 2001+ cluster. if you have a 98 cluster, i think you can just swap it. but i do remember something about the odometer mileage being coded to the cluster. i can't remember the specifics, but i'm sure there's info here if you search.

have you seen these instructions? it might answer a few of your questions... http://www.iwantaporsche.net/cluster.htm if what Tool Pants says is accurate, it looks like you may need to order up some gauge faces specific to your model year/cluster. OR maybe you could just swap the entire cluster (just use the new cluster with the silver faces.) if that can't be done, there's a pretty good market for gauge clusters so i'm sure you could get your money back (to buy some gauge faces that will fit your cluster.) ;) i know that http://www.performanceproducts.com has some. good luck!

the M490 system up to a certain model year only had a 4 channel amp. sounds like the latest version has the 6 channel amp. as Tool Pants pointed out, (i didn't know this) some radio models have the interface for the rear speakers, but it doesn't work, and the rear speakers must be connected to the amp. am i understanding this correctly?

just because his 'installer' doesn't know how to install speakers doesn't mean that Bose is better! ;) seriously, if he skipped the trip to the installer and just plugged it into the radio, none of this would have happened. i have a friend that works at Bose and even *he* thinks that they have a 'good' product and an EXCELLENT marketing department! :notworthy: i have heard that the Bose system is really expensive. did you pick yours up after you bought the car (i.e. not delivered installed from the factory?) what did it cost (if you don't mind?) i put together a pretty decent system: Nakamichi CD-500 HU, MB Quart dash/door speakers, Pioneer TSA878 rear speakers (these speakers had better freq response than most of the so-called 'higher-end' speakers), and a Kenwood KSC-SW1 slimline subwoofer (hasn't arrived yet.) total cost was $500+40+70+50+140 = $720. i would still like to upgrade the factory amp, which i will do in the spring. just wondering how that cost compares to the Bose system. ?

i'm going to estimate that it's 10" wide and 4" high (the speaker). it fits in the section under the rollbar (where the storage shelf is) and it doesn't take up the whole length of the rear shelf, just the middle part. i don't know how deep it is... but i hope Thomas will post back to tell us how it sounds.